Pirate Party: "1,500 euro basic income for all"

25 May will be the first time that the Pirate Party takes part in a Belgian general election. To underline the plank in their platform that argues for a basic income for all Pirate Party volunteers handed out fake 500 euro bills to all comers on the Ghent Korenmarkt on Saturday.

Sun 06 Apr 2014 12:39

Pirate spokeswoman Sarah Van Liefferinge: "We should dare to sever the link between work and income. We're proposing a 1,500 euro basic income for all. It will give everybody tremendous development opportunities. You can always work when you need a lot of money."

"We don't want people to live to work, but to work to live. We see how more and more robots are taking jobs. Full employment is an illusion. There isn't enough work to go round and paid work will become scarcer and scarcer."

The Pirates insist that society can fund a basic income for all: "There's enough cash. Only it's divided up in the wrong way. We should depart from the economic model geared to profit. The world's 85 richest people own as much as the world's 3.5 billion poorest. We should opt for an economy that serves people."

The other main plank in the Pirate Party's manifesto centres on protecting civil rights and privacy.